Trio Isimsiz, comprising violinist Pablo Hernán Benedí, pianist Erdem Misirlioğlu and cellist Edvard Pogossian, is on its first Australian tour, courtesy of Musica Viva.
The Trio, currently on a fellowship from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, was founded by Benedí while they were studying at Guildhall in 2009. The award-winning Trio has released three recordings and toured widely in the United Kingdom and Europe, China, Argentina and finally, Australia.
Isimsiz is Turkish for “nameless”, and the name is a nod to the idea that the name they take when they perform should reflect the composers they play rather than the ensemble that plays it. The threesome, though, is represented by the three ‘I’s in Isimsiz.
This program featured the contemporary Spanish composer-conductor Francisco Coll’s Piano Trio, along with two pillars of the repertoire: Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat major (1827) and Brahms’ C minor trio (1886).
The concert opened with the Brahms. This late work takes the listener on a musical journey and it was clear from the outset, that Trio Isimsiz’ interpretation would be exceptional. The dramatic opening was forceful but not harsh and played at a tempo and dynamic range that brought out the many twists and turns in this stormy music while maintaining its momentum. The excellent balance between the piano and strings made the most of Brahms’ lyrical melodies and rich harmonies.
Francisco Coll, also previously a student at Guildhall, has received commissions from a number of leading orchestras and soloists in recent years, and in 2019 became the first composer to receive an International Classical Music Award.
Following discussions between Coll and Benedí, Trio Isimsiz commissioned Coll to write a “substantial work” exclusively for them. Coll completed it in 2020 and they performed its world premiere in Madrid in 2022 and have since presented it at the Aldeburgh Festival and Wigmore Hall.
Benedí introduced the technically challenging work as the musical equivalent of a kaleidoscope, explaining how musical images are fractured in a multitude of different ways as the work progresses. There were times when these sonic fractures were sharp and strident, and other times when they seemed to diffuse and dissipate gradually. There were long, solitary, suspenseful sounds and ultra-delicate tinkling as tiny fragments splintered, with Elisabeth Murdoch Hall’s acoustics ensuring these super-soft passages could still be sensed upstairs.
Coll had wanted the trio to reflect the history of the genre. Each movement seemed to have a distinctive mood to musical narrative, albeit a fragmented one. There were shades of flamenco, a tango and a segment described in the program as a “hallucinated fugue”. The musicians seemed totally at ease with the complex music, and totally in sync with each other.
The second half of the program was devoted to Schubert’s B-flat major trio. Their interpretation brought out the lightness and joy in Schubert’s score, with Misirlioğlu’s gentle touch ensuring the strings were never overwhelmed. Amongst the many highlights were the interplay between the strings and piano in the glorious Andante, their playfulness in the scherzo, and the suspense they created before climactic entries. The trio sustained the musical conversation as if they were close friends finishing each other’s sentences, and there were many moments where the phrasing seemed to be evolving spontaneously.
In an interview after the concert with Musica Viva’s Artistic Director Paul Kildea, they confirmed their playing is constantly changing, so every performance is unique.
Trio Isimsiz might have wanted the composers to be centre stage, but their sensitive performance ensured that their name will also be remembered for all the right reasons.
Photo credit: Dylan Alcock
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Sue Kaufmann reviewed Trio Isimsiz, presented by Musica Viva Australia at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, on October 7, 2025.
